Trolling for Friends
by ASecretHistory
Summary: Just a little filler one shot expanding a little on "But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend" in PS. How Hermione was feeling around the time of the troll, and how Ron and Harry went from her enemies to her friends.


**A/N:** Just a little filler one shot expanding a little on "But from that moment on, Hermione Granger became their friend" in PS. How Hermione was feeling around the time of the troll, and how Ron and Harry went from her enemies to her friends. I'm always a bit obsessed with Ron/Hermione moments from the books that we never get to read about, since we always read from Harry's POV, so there'll be elements of that here as well.

 **Disclaimer:** This is all JK Rowling's awesomeness, not mine.

 **Trolling for Friends**

Hermione had been having a difficult few weeks at Hogwarts. So much of the excitement she had felt at joining the wizarding world and starting at Hogwarts was dying out rapidly. She had so hoped that her isolation in her old school was, in fact, because she was different … different, because she was a witch, that is. Not just a simple outcast. But, despite trying her level best at Hogwarts to study hard, work hard and be loyal to her House, she still simply didn't fit in with anybody.

Her four dormmates had all paired off, and while Parvati Patil and Lavender Brown were comparatively friendly enough to her, they weren't exactly inclusive. At night, the two of them would sit on Parvati's four poster with the curtains drawn, and Hermione would hear them whispering and giggling in the dark, while she simply read alone.

Neville was the only one who seemed happy to see her. Poor Neville, Hermione did her best to look out for him, but it was becoming less and less necessary. The boys' dormitory seemed much more united than the girls', and they all had Neville's back. They were all cheery and confident and, while all seemingly relatively good-natured, they simply showed little interest in talking to her.

Even Harry Potter and Ron Weasley. They were an odd pair. They had taken strongly to each other from the very first day, it seemed, and were never seen apart, tramping about in unison and laughing most of the time. At the same time, partly due to Harry being so well known but also because both of them were very open and friendly, they seemed universally well liked. Harry always seemed interested in anything anyone had to say and Ron was so funny, he was always surrounded by Gryffindors roaring with laughter. Their only nemesis was Draco Malfoy, and even Hermione had to admit that he deserved their antagonism.

But somehow, they seemed to range from vague disregard to open dislike of her. And of course, at the moment, she wasn't even on speaking terms with them. Far from their attitude towards her, they were such troublemakers, she couldn't believe it. And somehow, they just seemed to get away with it, all the time. _Rewarded_ in the case of Harry's incident with Malfoy and the Flying lesson. And they hadn't even apologised _once_ for that business with the three-headed dog.

Ron, in particular, infuriated her. He seemed to have no patience for her whatsoever and was particularly vocal in disagreeing whenever she tried to warn them that they would get themselves, and Gryffindor, into trouble. She was only trying to _help_ after all! Harry was just as disinterested in her opinion and, if anything, whenever she spoke to him, he seemed as though his mind was always on more important and interesting matters. So unlike the way they were with everyone else.

She sometimes wondered if she had been wrong, if she should have asked the Sorting Hat to put her in Ravenclaw. Perhaps she would have gotten along better with the more academic House as opposed to the rowdy Gryffindors, who seemed to have little room in their lives for someone like her. She supposed this incessant rule-breaking, characteristic of the most popular members of the House, such as Ron's twin brothers, was as a result of the "daring" and "nerve" traits of the typical Gryffindor.

She had been feeling more and more lonely and miserable as the days passed, shutting herself up in the library and working harder than necessary, in order to ignore her feelings.

But then the day of the troll incident changed everything for her.

She had been paired up with Ron Weasley in Charms. Ron had come to represent all the negativity and rejection she had been feeling, and the very sight of him made her stomach clench in half misery and half rage. Now, the sight of his furious face at being paired with her rather than Harry helped her feel far more anger towards him than anything else.

Things didn't go well. She grew more and more impatient and Ron grew particularly bad tempered as she showed him how to do the spell correctly. He refused to even try after that and sat with his arms crossed, glowering at their feather as she levitated it over and over again. When the bell rang to signal the end of the lesson, he snatched up his bag and stalked off to join Harry without a word. Almost as angry, Hermione grabbed her own books and strode after him to the classroom doorway, hoping to pass him so she wouldn't have to look at the back of his stupid head while heading to their next lesson.

Unfortunately, this was when she heard him say, "No wonder no-one can stand her, she's a nightmare, honestly."

It felt as though an ice block the size of a cricket ball had slid down her throat. So, it wasn't just in her head then … everybody hated her. Her pent-up strain and repressed misery all welled up very suddenly into her throat and eyes and she sped up so that she could rush to the nearest bathroom where people wouldn't see her cry.

Once she had locked herself into a cubicle, it was as though the flood gates had opened. The tears wouldn't stop coming and every now and then she would dissolve into shuddering hiccoughs. She hadn't even noticed how much time had passed until she heard Lavender and Parvati calling her name, and realised she must have missed the whole next lesson. She refused to come out when they knocked on her door and stayed huddled on the floor, her arms around her knees.

Her eyes felt so swollen that she doubted she'd be able to show her face for some time, and she resolved not to leave the bathroom until her eyes had cleared up. Unfortunately, as tears kept leaking down her cheeks, this didn't seem to be happening any time soon. Finally, she realised that everybody would probably be headed for the feast by now … she would wait another half an hour, she thought, to be sure, and then she would head up to Gryffindor dorm when no-one was around.

It wasn't too long after that that a terrible day got remarkably worse. Dealing with a troll … _a troll_ … when she had spent her day having a nervous break-down was simply too much for her. She was numb and frozen with fear, even when, for no apparent reason, Ron and Harry materialised behind the troll, clearly in an attempt to rescue her. The whole thing passed by in a confused and terrifying blur of movement and noise, and by the time she felt herself come a little to her senses, the troll was lying unconscious on the floor, Ron holding his wand in the air and Harry retrieving _his_ wand from the troll's nose.

And suddenly there was Professor McGonagall.

To be honest, looking back on it, Hermione wasn't sure what had come over her. She could have come up with a better story, one that didn't make herself seem as stupid … simply saying that Ron and Harry had come to find her when they realised she hadn't come back from the bathroom was true enough. But … at the time, it had felt very important that she take the focus off Ron and Harry as quickly as possible. Certainly, Professor McGonagall looked astounded at her idiocy and both Ron and Harry were having a hard time keeping the shock off their faces.

But it had been the best thing she had ever done.

She had waited nervously for them in the common room while everyone tucked into the food, unsure of whether they would be angry or not. But when they came in, she suddenly knew that they were all on the same side now. Other than some awkward mumbled "thanks" to each other, they didn't say much. But after she had put a small amount food on her plate, her appetite still left somewhere back in the girls' bathroom, and had found a less crowded corner of the common room to sit in, Ron and Harry came to join her, their own plates piled high.

The uncomfortable silence gradually passed as they ate and Harry and Ron filled her in on the fact that they had each earned five points – "So you don't even need to worry about the five she took from you," said Harry – and began speculating on where the troll had come from. They seemed to enjoy coming up with wild theories, culminating in Ron insisting that the troll had probably been Goyle all along and had just gone through a growth spurt.

Harry asked Hermione if she knew a spell to clean off the bits of troll bogey still clinging to his wand and Ron dumped a couple of his sausages and roast potatoes onto her plate without her asking ("You took hardly any food, this is supposed to be a _feast_ , Hermione!").

Her worst day at Hogwarts had, at this point, also become her best.

x x x

The next morning was a Saturday and when Hermione woke up early, everyone in her dorm was still fast asleep. Feeling restless, she got up and dressed and went down to the common room. It was deserted. She decided to write a letter to her parents. Yesterday, she had been feeling terribly homesick, and even though she was feeling better this morning, she still missed them. After having finished the letter (leaving out any mention of trolls) and sent it off from the owlery, she headed down to breakfast.

The Great Hall was still rather empty. Students were sleeping in and they often only arrived at breakfast in the last half an hour on a weekend. She had just buttered her toast and opened her book when she heard a gruff, "Morning," and looked up to find Ron taking the seat beside her and reaching for the bacon. He still looked very sleepy, his hair on end, and yawned widely.

"Morning," she said cautiously. Despite the pleasant dinner with the both of them the night before, she still felt a little uncertain about the state of things with Ron himself. Ron, however, seemed unconcerned as he piled scrambled eggs onto his plate and asked her to pass the coffee.

"I'm wiped, aren't you?" he asked, taking a long gulp. "I suppose fighting trolls does that to a person."

He gave her a wide grin.

She returned his infectious smile, feeling a warmth spreading through her stomach.

"Where's Harry?" she asked.

"Quidditch practice," said Ron. "He didn't wake up in time for breakfast, so I told him we'd save him some crumpets. We can probably take them down to the pitch just now. Although since he's the one who woke me up at this ungodly hour, I'm not so sure he deserves it."

Whether he was doing it on purpose or not, Hermione would probably never know, but the way he offhandedly included her in his and Harry's plans as though it was the most natural thing in the world was making her feel almost teary eyed, she was so touched. Luckily Ron was so focused on his breakfast, he didn't notice. Once he had chewed his way through three helpings, he collected a large pile of crumpets and wrapped them in a serviette.

"You done?" he asked her.

She had been done quite some time before, but she simply nodded and got to her feet. They left the Hall, and she listened to Ron chattering about Harry being on the Quidditch team and what an honour it was.

"Can't wait for the first match! You'll love it when you see it, just you wait!"

He then asked her to explain what football was ("I didn't know what Dean was on about-").

"Er … I don't know too much about sports," she explained as they made their way across the dewy grass. "But basically the two sides have to kick the ball into the goalposts at either end of the field."

Ron looked flummoxed. "There's _really_ nothing else to it?"

Hermione did her best to explain the intricacies of football, but she didn't do a great job since only her father watched it in their household. Ron didn't make it much easier as he kept asking things like why no-one had thought to add another ball to the game. When they reached the pitch, they discovered it had been locked, but they heard the sounds of the team inside, so they wandered aimlessly around the perimeter, Ron interrogating her on other Muggle sports, until practice ended almost an hour later.

When Harry emerged, he grabbed hungrily at the crumpets – the number of which had diminished somewhat as Ron had snacked on them while they had waited – and explained that Wood had kept the pitch locked as he wanted to keep Harry a secret. Hermione couldn't help noticing that Harry didn't show the slightest surprise that she was waiting with Ron, and once more she felt deep happiness in her chest.

"Hey, let's go and see Hagrid," suggested Ron.

Harry seemed to think this was a very good idea, and he spent the walk to Hagrid's hut explaining to Hermione how it had come about that he had received his Hogwarts letter, all thanks to Hagrid.

"Hagrid, this is Hermione," Harry said a few minutes later after they had been let into Hagrid's hut and Fang the boarhound had calmed down a little.

"Yeah, she's the smart one," said Ron.

"Nice ter meet yeh," said Hagrid, and she felt warmed by the kind way his eyes crinkled while he smiled behind his massive beard.

Over tea and rusks as hard as branches, Harry and Ron cheerfully filled Hagrid in on the troll, although they were a little vague on what Hermione had been doing in the bathroom. Hermione felt a little shy to join in at first, but she soon relaxed when Hagrid started asking her about home and her parents. Noticing that she had been unable to make a dent in her rusks, Ron quickly slipped them off her plate and into his pocket along with his and Harry's while Hagrid wasn't looking. Unfortunately, Hagrid seemed to take their sudden disappearance as a sign that they very hungry, and plied them with more.

They stayed down at Hagrid's over lunch and had a lovely lazy afternoon in his cosy cabin. By the time they left, they were all ravenous and looking forward to dinner. At the castle, Ron disposed of the heavy rusks that had been weighing down his pockets, saying, "There's just no escaping Hagrid's cooking, is there? These would knock out a troll any day."

Harry and Hermione laughed, and as they headed into the Great Hall for dinner, Hermione couldn't help but feel as though Ron and Harry had been her friends all along.

 **FIN**

 **A/N:** Thanks for reading!


End file.
